“@criscyborg @MMARoasted @RondaRousey I’ll give you a number – 135,” De Mars responded.

Boom goes the dynamite!

Justino is alluding to calling UFC co-owner Lorenzo Feritta to lock down a superfight.

Of course, De Mars is referring to the weight class that Rousey currently dominates. The primary roadblock in arranging the much-talked about scrap between the two is if Justino, who is Invicta’s featherweight champion, can shed the 10 pounds the UFC is requiring in order to challenge Rousey for her bantamweight title.

Justino has never fought at 135 pounds, but has promised to give it a go before year’s end. If she’s able to successfully compete for Invicta at bantamweight, she will then transition to the UFC to face Rousey. The shootout will never happen in the UFC if Justino can’t make weight. So the ball’s in the Brazilian’s court.

Rousey, meanwhile, is MMA’s present flavor of the month after submitting Cat Zingano in merely 14 seconds this past Saturday at UFC 184. She is now expected to take a break from fighting to film “Mile 22.”

To fans, Watson was the UFC’s unofficial hype man before every weigh-ins, pleading with them to show love to the fighters who trained relentlessly for months and worked tirelessly for the past week to get on weight. To fighters, Watson was the friendly and familiar face that greeted them at an airport or hotel in a foreign country to ensure they were comfortable.

And, of course, he was always backstage yelling his trademark line to the fighters as they made the walk to the cage.

UFC color commentator dubbed him “babysitter to the stars.”

There is some controversy surrounding Watson’s exit. According to the rumor mill, Watson got into a heated exchange with another UFC employee during last Friday’s UFC 184 weigh-ins over a fighter’s weight cut.

Middleweight Mark Munoz is the only athlete who had to take additional time to make weight, which he ultimately did, but denied Watson was involved in his particular situation.

“Just so every1 knows I have utmost respect 4 @BurtWatson4real! He’s a gr8 man & gr8 at what he does! Not sure what every1 is talking about,” Munoz wrote.

While he’s never competed inside the octagon, his departure has already been felt outside of it. Several fighters have expressed their sadness with Watson’s exit.

Just to show how popular Watson is, he has over 23,000 followers on Twitter.

From a reporter’s standpoint, Watson was nothing but smiles and sunshine whenever I interacted with him.

The injury bug has already done its fair share of wreckage in the opening two months of 2015, so please oh please leave UFC 187 alone. I know it’s asking a lot since the card’s not until May 23, but just one favor?

On Monday, the UFC confirmed the show’s main card, and it is nothing short of star-studded. It’s the deepest lineup the octagon has hosted in quite some time.

Light heavyweight king Jon Jones (pictured) defends his throne against Anthony Johnson in the night’s featured contest. The long-awaited middleweight title tilt between champ Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort serves as the co-main event.

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson (pictured) might be scheduled to face Fabio Maldonado next month at UFC 186, but, as expected, Jackson will have to win another fight before he competes for anyone besides Bellator MMA.

On Monday, Bellator filed a lawsuit against Jackson in New Jersey Superior Court to prevent him from fighting Maldonado under the UFC banner because he’s still under contract with them. According to Bellator, Jackson is only halfway through the exclusive six-fight agreement he inked with the Viacom-backed mixed martial arts promotion in July 2013.

“Today, Bellator MMA was compelled to go to court to stop Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson from fighting in an April 25th bout promoted by Bellator’s competitor, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC),” Bellator expressed in an official statement. “Jackson, who has completed only three fights of his exclusive six-fight contract with Bellator, is barred by contract from fighting for any promoter other than Bellator.

“Our lawsuit for an injunction and related relief – filed in the Chancery Division of the Superior Court in Burlington County, New Jersey – will compel Jackson to honor his contractual agreement. We look forward to having one of our MMA stars fighting for Bellator again.”

This move should come as no surprise. The UFC announced in December they had re-signed their former light heavyweight champion to a multi-fight deal, despite the fact Jackson was still under contract with Bellator.

Jackson claimed that he was able to void his deal with Bellator because they didn’t hold up their end of the initial agreement. He did not elaborate on what Bellator failed to do.

Jackson essentially completed his contractual obligations with the UFC following January 2013’s unanimous decision defeat to Glover Teixeira. Although there was some fine print at the bottom of his contract that allowed the UFC to match any offer that came across his table, they opted to part ways because of the disrespectful comments he made leading up to his final Octagon fights.

Like many others, Jackson complained of disrespect, low pay and under appreciation.

The 36-year-old then signed with Bellator and TNA Impact Wrestling. Although his professional wrestling career was short-lived, Jackson went 3-0 for Bellator.

Jackson was last seen in May posting a unanimous decision victory over Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal. He owns a 35-11 professional record.

UFC 184 takes place April 25 inside Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is highly unlikely Jackson will be performing that evening.

]]>http://www.5thRound.com/181894/bellator-files-lawsuit-preventing-quinton-rampage-jackson-from-re-joining-ufc/feed/0Ronda Rousey In A League Of Her Ownhttp://www.5thRound.com/181868/ronda-rousey-in-a-league-of-her-own/
http://www.5thRound.com/181868/ronda-rousey-in-a-league-of-her-own/#commentsSun, 01 Mar 2015 17:20:52 +0000Tom Ngohttp://www.5thRound.com/?p=181868

During Wednesday’s UFC 184 media workouts, bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey (pictured) had “The Best In The World” written on her hand tape. After what Rousey did to Cat Zingano, who Rousey previously touted as the toughest test of her MMA career, it’s hard to debate.

It took Rousey all of 14 seconds to dispose of Zingano on Saturday. That tied a UFC record for quickest submission and set the bar for fastest finish in a UFC championship affair.

The 28-year-old now owns an unblemished 11-0 professional record, finishing off all of her victims before the final horn. To further spotlight Rosuey’s dominance, her total fight time is 24 minutes and 41 seconds through 11 outings.

Only Miesha Tate has taken her beyond the opening round, but ultimately got polished off by Rousey’s trademark armbar in the third period at UFC 168.

In every promo featuring Rousey, UFC president Dana White starts off with, “She’s mean. She’s nasty…” Fact of the matter is, she’s far too good and she simply has no peers.

She unquestionably has a strangle hold on the biggest gap from champ to challengers on the UFC roster. Rousey has already demolished every top five 135-pounder, and she’s taken care of Tate twice.

Is #6 ranked Jessica Eye next having gone just 1-1 (1 NC) over her past three fights? Undefeated Bethe Correia is rated right behind Eye, but hasn’t beaten anyone in the top 10.

Holly Holm made her anticipated UFC debut Saturday with a less than spectacular split decision victory over 5-1 underdog Raquel Pennington. The former boxer clearly isn’t ready for the heat Rousey will bring.

And then there was one. Invicta featherweight champ Cris “Cyborg” Justino is the only woman live most pundits believe can give Rousey a run for her money. In fact, many are convinced the Brazilian would plaster Rousey and that’s why UFC brass aren’t going out of their way to sign someone who would destroy their golden girl.

The primary problem is Justino has never fought at 135 pounds. She promises to make her first attempt at bantamweight before year’s end.

Regardless, Rousey won’t wait to see if Justino can make weight. The “Rowdy” hoopla train has left the station and is preparing to lap the field.

The California State Athletic Commission has released the official salaries for all the contestants who competed in Saturday’s “UFC 184: Rousey vs. Zingano” event.

With a submission victory over Kosh Koscheck, Jake Ellenberger (pictured) was the night’s highest earner with $136,000. Half of the welterweight’s paycheck came via win bonus.

Despite being the show’s biggest superstar, bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey only made a disclosed $130,000 for beating Cat Zingano.

However, don’t feel bad for Rousey. It has been reported that Rousey should clear over a million dollars after getting her piece of the pay-per-view pie.

Please keep in mind, the numbers that get reported to the athletic commissions are only of what’s required. These figures do not include deductions for items such as licenses and taxes.

Additionally, they do not contain money paid by sponsors or any bonuses from the UFC. These royalties can include pay-per-view commissions, Fight Night bonuses, top secret discretionary bonuses, etc., which can oftentimes represent a substantial portion of a fighter’s total income.

If you ran to the bathroom before UFC 184′s main event, then you likely missed the live finish. It took reigning bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey (pictured) a mere 14 seconds to submit Cat Zingano on Saturday night.

Zingano rushed Rousey with a flying knee and got tossed to the mat. After a brief scramble on the ground, Zingano’s arm got caught between Rousey’s legs and it was a wrap from there.

Rousey slapped on a slick straight armbar/arm lock and Zingano was forced to cry uncle.

Rousey tied the fastest submission in UFC history and set the UFC mark for the quickest sub in a championship affair.

“Rowdy” has no peers on the UFC’s current roster. So it’s time to see if Cris “Cyborg” Justino can make 135 pounds.

There has been nonstop chatter for the past several months that former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (pictured) might return to the world of mixed martial arts when his WWE contract expires.

While Lesnar hasn’t said anything publicly about coming back to the cage, because everybody knows how much he despises talking to people, his attendance at UFC 184 on Saturday night in Los Angeles certainly spoke volumes on the speculation front.

UFC president Dana White, for one, wasn’t saying much of anything about re-signing the biggest mainstream star to ever compete in the octagon.

“Brock is a fan of the UFC,” White said at the post-fight press conference of why Lesnar was in attendance. “He’s under contract with the WWE right now. When his contract runs out, I’m sure he’ll call me.”

There have been reports that contract extension talks between Lesnar and the WWE have stalled, which has left “The Baddest Man on the Planet” searching for other avenues to make money. Who says you can’t go home again?

Lesnar, who turns 38 in July, hung up his MMA gloves after getting TKO’d by Alistair Overeem over four years ago at UFC 141. He left the game with a 5-3 professional record, with all but one of his scraps coming inside the big leagues.

Once again, the UFC opted to bypass “Fight of the Night” and award four “Performacne of the Night” checks instead.

Ellenberger and opponent Josh Koscheck both faced must-win situations with each having lost three straight. Ellenberger lives to fight another day after catching Koscheck with a rare north-south choke for one bonus check.

It took Rousey all of 14 seconds to submit Cat Zingano in tonight’s featured attraction. That performance was more than enough to secure one “Performance of the Night” check.

Ferguson continues to stockpile impressive wins. Gleison Tibau became his latest victim after tapping to a rear-naked choke in the opening round of their scrap.

Means posted a TKO victory over Dhiego Lima for his “Performance of the Night” check.